Who are your heroes? You can be someone’s hero by performing like one. One of my sports’ heroes is Wayne Gretzky. Quite simply, the greatest hockey player in the history of the game.
The Great One — Wayne Gretzky was deemed, “too small, too wiry, and too slow to be a force in the NHL” by the so-called experts. But he has a lot to teach us about creating greatness. Here are some quotes by the Great One that we can learn from...
“The highest compliment that you can pay me is to say that I work hard every day, that I never dog it.” Gretzky was playing against ten year olds when he was only six years old. He learned to be tough and always perform at his highest level. When you’re working at creating value for your clients, you must constantly be delivering your very best game. When you’re working, work hard. Have a plan and apply your skills and your very unique creativity and personality to the best of your ability and you’ll “never dog it.”
Gretzky was also a bit obsessive over his hockey sticks. He didn’t like his stick touching any others. He even put baby powder on the ends. “I think it’s essentially a matter of taking care of what takes care of you.” When it comes to your profession, your livelihood, are you “taking care of what takes care of you?” Your best clients, your best suppliers, your best employees — how are you taking care of them? Your best clients deserve your best work. Your best suppliers deserve your highest loyalty and an on-going spirit of cooperation and partnership. Your best employees deserve your appreciation, recognition, and your mentoring and development. And how about your industry? You can take care of your industry by giving back through your regional and international association. A strong industry requires your participation, your voice, your votes, and your volunteerism.
“You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” You have no excuse for not taking your best shot every day. You can’t make sales if you don’t make calls. You can’t open new accounts without risking some rejection. Your closing percentages may be way down. Take more shots!
“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” If you’re waiting for a nicer day, waiting for something in the future — you are creating nothing. To create value you must do it in the only reality there is — right this moment. When you are working — WORK! Turn off your email for an hour. Let Facebook rest for the morning - your friends will be there later. Setting goals is important, but taking action steps right now will move you closer to making a score and winning.
And of all of the Gretzky quotes, my personal favorite is: “I skate to where the puck is going to be, not where it has been.” Many of us are still playing by the rules of the game of business as they were in 2006 or 2007 (or 1975 for some!). The puck has moved and it’s not coming back. You must be moving out to meet it.
You must also create value for your customers by helping them see where the puck is going to be and meeting it. You do that by constantly improving your skills, by looking for new ways to create relevant solutions and innovative new strategies. Where do you want to be? Skate over there now.
Paul Kiewiet MAS+ is an industry speaker, writer, consultant and coach. He serves as the executive director of MiPPA. Kiewiet was inducted into the PPAI Hall of Fame and the MiPPA Hall of Fame. He served as Chairman of PPAI in 2007. A former distributor, he founded Promotion Concepts, Inc in 1982 and worked with some of America’s most valuable brands including Coca-Cola, Kelloggs and Whirlpool.